It occurs to me that this would be a good week to say thank you to all the people who craft words into treasures. If you’ve read my bio page, you know I’m a voracious reader. My house is packed with books, read and unread. My first worry when bad weather is in the forecast […]
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The Writer is an Artist
You’re an artist. Did you know that? Of course you are. Writers use words as their paint and the pages of their manuscript as the canvas. I was thinking about how long it’s been since I lifted a paintbrush (not just the kind and size designed for painting kitchen cabinets and walls) and yearning to […]
wordhaus – New Short Story eZine Ready to Launch!
You may remember my posts, back in June, about the upcoming new ezine, wordhaus. Publisher, and blogger, Emily Wenstrom realized that many sources for short stories were available only to the small community of short story writers. Her personal desire for a constant supply of short stories in the genres of romance, mystery/thriller, and sci-fi/fantasy […]
The Writer: Last Days of an Icon
One hundred twenty five years dedicated to “inspire, instruct and inform writers at all levels.” That is the mission of The Writer, the magazine flying the tagline “Imagine. Write. Publish.” And the publishers have done all that for over a century. They, and their contributors, inspired writers at all stages of their craft and career through articles […]
Day Fourteen – Branded: Your Face in the World
One thing is sure. We’re responsible for our own success. Therefore, we will brand ourselves, and do it gladly and brilliantly. Today, publishers don’t allocate time or money to promote every single book that leaves their house. The sheer volume of books published each day means the publisher reserves its support for their biggest clients. The […]
Day Nine – Connect and Flourish
There are many reasons a writer should make connections, not least is that some of them might get her away from the keyboard and out of the house. The needs of every writer will be different, just as we are all unique in what we write and how we write. Without making connections we never stretch […]
Revealing Ourselves: Writers Take Risks
So, I didn’t win, or even place, in Jeff’s Goins’ You Are a Writer contest. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I was one of 138 writers who publicly stood up and declared our innermost identities. Isn’t that the most important thing? That we claim our talents and make use of them – […]
Gone Visiting
I’m guest posting on Novel Publicity & Company today. Let’s go visit them! Thanks, Emlyn, for the invitation.
Keeping the Covenant: It Takes Work
There’s one reality we cannot repudiate. Without a steady diet of well-spun stories, without examples of both fine word craft and cringe-worthy phrases, we can’t understand what makes a story work. Glance over your bookshelves… you do have multiple shelves, don’t you? Which books do you hoard to savor multiple times? I’m betting they’re the […]